


The Party

by KQLXY



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alcohol, Confessions, F/M, Grinding, Groping, House Party, Intoxication, Makeouts, Making Out, Teasing, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-13
Updated: 2017-01-13
Packaged: 2018-09-17 05:21:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9307112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KQLXY/pseuds/KQLXY
Summary: Post-Nationals, a certain three guys decide to have a house party. A certain boy hopes a certain girl will be there. That certain girl is on the hunt herself. An Ace gets drunk. Shenanigans happen. Was supposed to be smut but turned out fluffy halfway through because it kind of turned in that direction, but there's more than enough teenage hormones. Warning applies to those hormones, some language and general shenanigans.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [whitemiists](https://archiveofourown.org/users/whitemiists/gifts).



> The idea for this was literally "there's a house party, people get drunk, and DaiYui hook up and have great drunk sex." However, halfway through it I started really enjoying what was coming out and decided to take it in a different direction. Mostly I wanted to try to capture the best things about teenage/college house parties with very few of the negatives: camaraderie, good times, warm romance and both parties teasing the fuck out of each other until it boils over. I did some reading on underage drinking in Japan and it turns out that it seemed pretty normal in comparison to the west; I realize Asahi's house and the party itself may be a bit too rooted in Western culture, but hey, I don't give a fuck.
> 
> Enjoy, and leave comments, because they give me life.

“So… what do we do now?”

Three boys walked down a small side street during a cold winter night. Each of them could see their breath, and heard nothing besides the swishing of their jackets and the crunching of their footsteps in the slush and ice.

“I mean, we have this to do,” said the one in the middle.

“No, Daichi — I mean… in general,” came from the left, struggling with the paper bags that held various utensils, snacks and cups.

“Tournament’s over,” Asahi started. “Maybe we should be asking this in a couple days. Y’know, give us some time to celebrate.”

Suga felt a little uneasy. Karasuno had won Nationals. The team’s purpose was finished until the next year. Anxiety wasn’t like him, but for some reason, he couldn’t calm down. Suga finally got a good grip on the bags, just in time for a door to slide open and welcome them inside.

“Good, you got the stuff!”

Waiting inside the house was their coach and mentor for most of the year; he had generously put aside some party essentials aside from his shop. As he’d said, this was more of a graduation gift as much as one for winning the tournament; however, it was on one condition.

“So you’re _sure_ that the first years don’t know?” Keishin said, with a touch of tension in his voice.

“Yeah, but I’m not sure why you were so adamant about it,” Daichi answered, putting the bags down. “I knew I could trust Kageyama to provide a distraction for Hinata, and well, the other two probably aren’t the type to care in the first place.”

“Well, if you want the answer to that, open the fridge.”

Asahi’s house had the advantage of being the biggest; a family of construction workers meant work was mostly plentiful and contractors came at a cheaper friendly price. His kitchen was obviously familiar to him, but he bristled a little bit at the suggestion: his family was trusting him to take care of the house for the weekend, and something didn’t feel quite right. His hand wrapped around the handle.

“What did you d-oh no,” he stammered, cutting himself off as he looked inside. The entire bottom shelf was full of canned beer; on their side on another shelf were larger bottles of harder liquor — whiskey, rum and vodka.

“This, friends…” Keishin said, pushing past a panicking Asahi in order to show off his gift, “… is a little something me and the boys put together for bringing the glory back to the black and orange.”

“This is **also** why the first years aren’t invited. I can believe the second years would be fine, but the others… eh. Figured you guys might want to have a good night instead of worrying about babysitting.”

None of the boys were particularly worried about the alcohol itself; they were 18, and had had their fair share of stolen beers and vodka-as-water in an otherwise clear bottle. But this was different; this involved girls. And potential property damage.

“Fuck. Fuck fuck. Fuck fuck fuck,” Asahi stammered, pacing around. It was enough that the guys had convinced him to host this party, but this introduced a large amount of chaos. First it was just a party for the guys, then the girl’s teams wanted to join them. Daichi put a firm hand on his back and a small push.

“Go put these is some bowls,” he said, shoving some bags of chips into his arms.

Keishin smiled, leaning against the kitchen counters. He was proud of these guys for what they’d taken a chance on this year. He gave Suga a playful punch to his arm.

“You guys will survive. This will be fun. And if anything else, remember that these are the kind of nights you guys are going to remember for the rest of your life.”

The other two had managed to calm down Asahi enough to finish the preparation. There was still around a half hour before the party started; Keishin had left, and everything was calm. Something about “before the storm.”

All three had the chance to finally sit down; it had been a busy day. There were three exhales, almost simultaneously.

“This is going to be something, isn’t it?” Asahi sighed.

“It’s be fiiiine,” Suga laughed. “I mean, we’re all responsible adults, right?”

Two heads cocked to look at him.

”…right?”

“I mean, come on, this should be alright. We’re not going to burn your place down,” Daichi said, not looking to have a downer spoil this. “There’s cute women, some of your best friends, and we can just get a bit tipsy and enjoy the night. We can survive this.”

Asahi could feel the tension dissipate, and to be honest, _he_ didn’t want to be a stick in the mud either. It had been a long time since they’d been able to just sit here and relax. He sighed.

“Yeah, you guys are right. This will be fine. Why don’t we like… have a beer, like, right now?”

The other two nodded in agreement, so he ventured off into the kitchen to get a couple; he returned to the living room with a bit of a grumble on his face. Suga couldn’t help but let out a short laugh.

“What’s wrong?”

He held up a label of the can. “[ Asahi ](http://www.asahibeer.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Contact-Us.jpg).”

“Seriously, the coach has a wicked sense of humor.”

Daichi joined in with a laugh.

“I mean, come on man, it’s _your_ party!” he said, taking a can from Asahi’s outstretched hand and cracking it open. “Clearly this is the best way to remind people.”

“But seriously, though” Daichi started, holding up his drink. “To two my two best friends who managed to carry my ass to a National championship.”

“Heh. You better not forget it,” Suga said, joining Asahi in a clinking of cans and smirking in satisfaction. “It’s hard winning the game solo from the bench.”

“Yeah yeah,” Asahi said, taking a long sip with the other two. He sighed as the can left his lips in satisfaction.

“I’m going to miss this.”

“What?”

“Just… this. You guys are going off to college, I’m staying here…”

“Ugh, we’re getting all sentimental again!” Daichi said, throwing his head back against the couch back, frustrated. “Just.. can we hold off on this for one night?”

“Why?” Suga said, chiming in. “What’s wrong with just saying it?”

A small pause. Daichi furrowed his brow.

“Alright, I mean…” he started. “We’ve all been considering it, and it just feels like something that shouldn’t cast a pall over this. I’m over-thinking about shit enough and I don’t need this adding to it.”

“I mean, what’re _you_ overthinking about, Captain?” Asahi said with a wry grin. “You’re the one who gets to play hero to the girl, here.”

Daichi tensed. That was exactly what he was over-thinking about, and it hadn’t exactly been subtle. _She_ was coming to the party. Yes, it was with the rest of the team, but Yui’s RSVP still left a little bit of a pang in his heart. Finishing Nationals left him with a lot less to think about, and suddenly a couple things started to connect.

The charm. The enthusiasm. The punches? Conversations with both of his best friends left him feeling a bit too _aware_ of the coincidences, and the scariest thing was, he wasn’t totally against it. A sigh escaped his mouth.

“Yes, yes, get all the mocking out now.”

Suga’s dam broke.

“FINALLY. Holy crap, man, I was going to make _so_ much fun of you for dressing up a little more than I thought you would, but…”

“Alright alright, give him some room,” Asahi scolded as he could feel Daichi bristle at the thought. None of them were _completely_ clueless with girls, but as Daichi had said before, volleyball had left them a bit busy to date, flirt, or do other things normal horny teenagers got to do.

“Seriously, though. She wants your dick,” Suga said, laughing.

“ **SUGA**.” Both Daichi and Asahi bluntly shut down any more of this, but the former couldn’t help but wonder as his face heated up.

_“That wouldn’t be the worst.”_

He decided to flip open his phone and toss her a quick text. Y’know, just to make sure she was still coming.

* * *

“Girl, you are going to get some _dick_!”

“HEY!” shouted a fairly-flustered Michimiya Yui, seconds after exiting the bathroom with the last of her preparations done. “Just… shut up!”

There was pleasant teasing on both sides of this proverbial fence, as teammates of both captains were a bit sick of this back-and-forth that never seemed to go anywhere. Daichi’s ignorance clashed with Yui’s unwillingness to push during the season, and suddenly it seemed like all bets are off.

Yui was as dressed to kill as much as she’d allow herself to get: skinny jeans and a comfortable t-shirt that did little to hide curves that she’d become a little more proud of — cute belt, necklace and socks to tie it all together. Y’know — tasteful cleavage.

Zip-up boots to take care of the winter slush with a bit (but not too much of a heel) to them. She wasn’t some _floozy_ , but she wasn’t a prude, either. She knew how much volleyball had done both her _and_ Daichi; she was past the point of trying to deny that those strong shoulders of his weren’t doing anything for her. A quick spinaround and a glance at herself over her shoulder in the mirror.

“ _Butt game on point_ ,” she thought, grinning to herself. Despite previous anxiety about _sturdy_ thighs, a few encounters with other interested parties — ones she had little time for — had encouraged her that the thickness was something to be embraced. Booty game for good.

Said butt then vibrated as she got a text message; flipping her cell phone open a familiar smile spread across her face that most of her teammates knew too well. It was pretty gross, but they had gotten used to it — better her happy than agonizing.

This was as close to a pre-game as the girls could really get to themselves, as the larger number of the team itself meant that preparations had to be split between two houses — bathroom space is at a premium, you know?

Suga had done the necessary communication in a group chat; “free booze, but don’t break anything”.

The girls could deal with that.

* * *

Soon, the Azumane household had an untold amount of shoes in its front foyer and a general _din_ of teenagers filling its previously-quiet space. The Karasuno boy’s team second-years had arrived soon after the third-years had sat down, and eventually the girl’s team arrived in waves. As they left behind _their_ first years as well, the balance between genders was pretty even.

In general, it took a downright _awkward_ amount of time for someone to break out the first drink, mostly because appearances meant that being a lush was generally frowned upon.

Daichi had been relegated to taking coats and organizing shoes in the interest of keeping things as smooth as possible. Asahi had the unenviable position of brief house tours, noting that there were two bathrooms (one on the ground floor, another on the second) which were marked with signs for those too inebriated to remember instructions. A couple large garbage bags were hung with care, mostly to keep the spills and cleanup to a minimum.

But let’s be real, none of that really matters until someone’s broken that ice.

“Suga, everyone feels really… tense?” Daichi noted, also noticing that Yui hadn’t arrived yet.

“Because we don’t really talk to each other regularly,” his vice-captain responded cooly. “Do we… do something?”

“Maybe I’ll talk to… shit,” he said, feeling a vibration in his pocket.

“Shit?”

“She’s here.”

Daichi’s defensive reflexes sprung into action as he grabbed a new load of coats and rushed off into the far hallway as the front door slid open. Suga sighed and rolled his eyes; courage only seemed to extend to on-court activities.

“Hey ladies!” he said, greeting them warmly. “Kick your shoes off and toss me your coats; there’s still some room in the fridge for stuff if you have it.”

The former Karasuno captain’s entrance seemed to liven up the party a little bit, mostly because the girls who were otherwise in uncharted territory now had a trustworthy rock to cling to. After her group had enough time to get comfortable and acquainted, she noticed someone was missing.

“Suga?” she said, motioning him over. “Where’s Daichi?”

Suga sighed in frustration a little less subtly than he wanted. “He’s around. He’s just being a big ball of nerves.”

“Why’s that?”

Suga suddenly caught himself. The tension between Daichi and Yui wasn’t exactly a secret, but he at least thought that it should be up to them to tear that band-aid off.

“No reason, I think,” he said sheepishly, grinning and trying to hide his momentary gaffe. “I think he’s just a bit worried people aren’t going to mesh well.”

“Oh!” she said, considering the possibilities. “Hrm, that’s actually a good point. Do… _you_ have any ideas on how we fix that?”

“I mean, it’s usually just up to someone to start, right?”

Yui lit up a little and pulled out her phone, tapping out a quick message.

“Good idea, Suga!”

* * *

Daichi was breathing a little harder than he thought he would. He’d made the trip to the coat room and back a couple times more than he’d thought, crossed over to the bathroom, and was now staring at himself in the mirror.

“ _Why._ ” he thought. “ _This shouldn’t be that hard._ ”

His phone vibrated. His heart panged as he read the sender. Opening it, he found a simple message.

_YM: Need your help! Got an idea._

A sharp exhale. The nerves suddenly quieted a little. She was here, and she was the same as she ever was. Sure, there was a little bit of extra now, but he had known her for a while — sunny, happy, enthusiastic, and a bit crazy. Not bad things in the least.

He glanced at himself one more time, mentally psyching himself. Without answering, he opened the bathroom door and turned left out straight out of it.

Right into Yui.

* * *

Yui saw his familiar silhouette in the dim light of the hallway and had a couple different feeling run through her head at once.

  1. “Oh, it’s Daichi!”
  2. “ _Oh shit,_ it’s Daichi!”



She couldn’t help but give him a quick once over, one she was sure he wouldn’t pick up on. He was a little more put together than the traditional volleyball or school uniform she was used to seeing him in; he actually felt _co-ordinated_ , which was… a good thing? Maybe? Yui was unsure, mostly because there the tones of those thoughts ranged from relatively chaste to a bit more… dangerous.

“Oh, Yui!” Daichi said in surprise.

Stepping outside of her devilish thought bubble, she composed herself long enough to grin warmly at him.

“Hey champ, nice to see you.”

This flushed Daichi instantly, mostly because she knew how to push his buttons. There was always an air of humility to his words, so when he actually got genuine praise it was really easy to tilt him off balance.

She loved doing it.

“Sorry, got caught up with some last-minute stuff. Dad gave me a call and it lasted a little longer than I thought.”

“ _Fuck, you’re terrible at lying_ ,” Sawamura thought to himself. She seemed to buy it, though.

“No problem! I trust you just got my message?” she said, to which he replied with a nod.

“Good. Suga and I were talking, and the party’s a bit… quiet? No one’s talking to each other, and I was thinking… captain’s toast?”

Daichi’s initial reaction was one of apprehension; motivating his team was one thing, but a whole party of people that he might not know?

“Hey, I know that look,” she said, cutting him off. “This is all about you guys, and we’re wasting precious time, here!”

He opened his mouth, and the excuse almost made it out of his mouth before she cut him off.

“I’ll go too!”

Daichi’s heart sank. This would be the perfect thing to give Suga and Asahi more ammunition.

“Dual captain’s speech? I mean, this is pretty much the closest thing to a year-end banquet we’re going to get for both teams.”

Reframing it like that helped Daichi warm up to it.

“... Sure?” he said, with a grin crossing his face. She could read him like a book.

“Awesome!” she said, moving behind him and putting both of her hands against his back. With a gentle push, she pointed him towards the common area where most people were.

She tried to stop herself, but her imagination drifted to how his back would feel without the fabric in the way.

Daichi lumbered out of the hallway to the eyes of everyone in the room. Looking a bit caught off-guard, but he quickly readjusted as Yui popped out from beside him and gave the room a little wave.

“Everyone! Daichi has something to say!”

Daichi flushed, then brushed it off with a not-so-hidden “Thanks, Michimiya,” under his breath. Some scattered laughs. He could get through this. A deep breath. Let’s do this.

“So. Ladies. Gentlemen,” he said, putting his hand on the back of the couch and leaning against it. “Thanks for coming out on such short notice.”

“This is… pretty much a little party we decided to put together in order to celebrate,” he said, scratching the back of his neck with his spare hand. “We’ve all had a hell of a year, and we figured it was a good enough time to hang out for a bit.”

Scattered looks across the room. This wasn’t warming anyone up.

“And then, of course, our coach gave us a bunch of free booze, so we thought… party?”

Some grins. A laugh. Tanaka and Nishinoya punching the air.

“I know none of us are going to turn that down, so before we all act like _mature adults_ , we thought we’d get some stuff out of the way.”

Daichi could feel the party livening up a little, which in turn, warmed him up. He knew this feeling from when the mood turned during a game; seeing people receptive to his speeches usually meant he could put more into them.

“First, let’s give the irreplaceable Mr. Azumane a nice round of applause for letting us use his house,” Daichi said, gesturing over to a frantic third-year who stopped in his tracks to give a sheepish acknowledgement. There were some laughs, some “ace!” cheers from the boy’s team and a sarcastic round of golf claps.

“Second, let’s thank the indomitable Sugawara for co-ordinating the food,” he said, grinning at his other best friend. More golf claps, and warmer laughter.

“And third, let’s give a warm thank you to the lovely Ms. Michimiya for getting this whole thing together so it didn’t just blow up in the hangar,” he said, gesturing grandly to his now-blushing speech partner. “Because let’s be real, the tenacious and talented girls’ team should be the _only_ reason care about our school!”

Laughs all around, and a “damn straight!” from one of the girls.

“But really, I’m happy to see what both of our teams were able to accomplish this year. We’ve taken a lot of shit from everyone in the past, and seeing you guys support us means a lot,” he said, grinning.

“So… let’s hope these idiots can keep the momentum going next year,” he said, motioning to his second-year players. “Mostly so we can brag that we went to one of the best damned schools in Japan.”

More cheers. More grins. More laughs.

Daichi beamed. He was confident that he was leaving the team in good hands.

“This is… _yours_ , now.”

He could see the second years beam at his confidence. This was a good sign.

“But mostly, let’s just have some fun,” he said. “This is where I’d… toast, if I had someth-”

Michimiya had sashayed away from the speech as he’d continued, and suddenly re-appeared out of nowhere to plop a can of beer into his outstretched hand. He was surprised, but then looked over to her and smiled.

“That’s better.”

She shot him a look back, grinning with the tip of her tongue pressed between her teeth. She held up a can of her own.

“To the black and orange!” she toasted, waiting for the other captain to respond.

To everyone else, they wouldn’t notice a pause on Daichi’s part. In that moment, he couldn’t help but notice how genuinely happy Yui was, and how much she seemed to _radiate_ that feeling to him. It was warm and inviting, and made him want to be a number of things that he was never quite sure he could live up to on his own.

He wanted to learn more about her; he wanted to help her be the type of person she wanted to be. He was thankful of all the support she had given him in the past — this speech aside — and to be honest, he was glad she was here to celebrate with him.

The feeling went by quickly, but it was clear, crisp and genuine:

“ _God, this girl,_ ” he thought.

“To Karasuno!” he said, with emphasis, clinking the cans. A cheer rang out from the crowd, but there was one voice that stood out from them the most. It was Suga, and well, he was trying to start a chant with a bottle of whiskey in his hand.

“Cap-tain shot! Cap-tain shot! Cap-tain shot!”

Daichi’s eyes widened as the two shot glasses in Suga’s hands got placed down on a table and were filled with a cold, brown liquor. His vice captain had gotten the rest of the party to join him in the chant, and was soon carrying over both the glasses, giving one to Yui and another to Daichi. Out of earshot, Suga muttered:

“Don’t say I never did anything for you.”

Daichi couldn’t help but shoot him an annoyed glance, but that quickly glazed over as he could see Yui turning to him out of the corner of his eye. She raised her glass for a second cheers, again, with a somewhat-challenging grin on her face.

“Not going to wimp out on me now, are you, captain?”

While he wasn’t exactly sure how well this would end up, Daichi tossed caution out the window.

“ _Eh, fuck it,_ ” he thought, clinking the glass. He couldn’t help but grin further. Surrounded by his best friends, he could feel his heart expanding and radiating pure unadulterated _joy_ . Bottoms up, warming liquid splashed down his throat and a terrible taste followed. He never _could_ get used to that. Seeing Yui making a similar reaction made him laugh a little.

“Alright, _your_ turn!” he said, turning to Suga as the rest of the party seemed keen to make for the fridge and freezer.

While he tried to get a measure of revenge, he missed out on the reaction of a particular fellow captain. She had just seen him act out one of the reasons she liked him so much: the ability to be humble and inspire people both at the same time. Despite the girls’ team not performing anywhere near to the level of the guys’, he still made sure they felt welcome; that meant a lot to her.

The alcohol warmed her body as she took another sip of her beer. The party was kicking into gear now; she’d have to gather her courage soon.

* * *

To the experienced house partier, there’s a few ways that one can go:

  1. The party quickly gets out of control as people drink. Things get damaged, stolen or vandalized, and while _some_ people have fun, some people usually suffer. You usually don’t come out of it with a positive experience.
  2. No one does much of anything, and it becomes a glorified “hang around and watch Netflix” party. Fun, but especially if there’s a special occasion, this can be a bit lame.
  3. There’s a nice sweet spot between alcohol providing the social lubricant and people genuinely opening up. The party doesn’t die and things actually happen, but it never tips past that point where it gets dangerous.



Thankfully, this party was much of the latter.

After the toast, the attendees mostly split up into a couple groups. There was one firmly planted in the living room, casting videos from their phones to the TV for entertainment while sipping drinks and laughing/singing loudly. A second parked at the dining room table, firmly committed to a drinking game competition between the boys and the girls.

The third and final group found themselves in the kitchen, mostly talking about whatever came to mind; Daichi found himself in the last area, both in order to chat with Ennoshita and keep an eye on how much people were drinking. “Free alcohol” usually spells chaos for people who don’t know their limits: thankfully people weren’t abusing the privilege.

“So, nervous?” Chikara brought up casually, with a little bit of a laugh.

“Erm.. a little?” Daichi said. “College seems like this huge step. I’m not exactly sure how it’s going to be moving away from home.”

“I mean, it’s not like it’s that far away. Trains work. You’ll survive,” his junior said.

Daichi had already known for a while that Chikara was responsible, but it was comforting to see him be the voice of reason, even a beer in.

“Seriously, captain,” he said. “Don’t stress.”

Daichi grinned, almost acknowledging a challenge.

“Alright, then. Let’s pass the torch. Shot?”

Chikara looked a little apprehensive.

“Um. Maybe some other time — I’m not going to lie, Daichi-senpai, I want to make sure that Noya and Tanaka aren’t going to ruin this.”

Daichi laughed.

“You tell me to take it easy and then shrug off fun yourself. Natural captain.”

Chikara finished up the small talk and eventually shuffled off into the living room to keep a closer eye on the ‘problem children.’ Daichi impulsively checked his phone; he wasn’t sure why.

“ _Maybe I’m expecting something,_ ” he thought, scrolling through both his texts and some social media. Suddenly, though, he felt a slight bump against the tip of his nose.

“Boop!”

Snapped back into reality, Daichi couldn’t help but feel his face heat up as Yui had showed up in front of him, grinning before opening the fridge to refill her drink.

“Having fun, captain?”

Daichi’s face reddened worse as he couldn’t help but trail his gaze down her back; her shirt had lifted up _just_ a tad as she bent over in the fridge, exposing just a sliver of skin that he felt terrible about wanting to see more of. He quickly shook himself back to a semblance of decorum as soon as he saw her straighten up — a moment of panic engulfed him as he could’ve sworn she had caught him. A sharp exhale as he struggled to cover.

“Th-thanks for the help during the toast,” he said, offering an earnest grin. “The toast was a nice touch.”

“No problem at all!” she said with a sunny smile. “I’m just happy you guys could make this happen.”

Both captains stood within arm’s length; Daichi could tell that Yui was at _least_ a little buzzed, mostly due to the expansion of her usual perkiness to become a little more friendly.

If it was brought up, Yui would have agreed; that “boop” was probably something she wouldn’t be comfortable with if she was sober. Affectionate _punches_ were obviously different than something more delicate. She smiled sweetly on the outside, but inside her head something a tad more _sinister_ was brewing.

“ _Sawamura you_ **_perv_ ** _,_ ” she thought, pleased with herself at not putting Daichi _totally_ on the spot for checking her out. “ _Alright, Yui. You’re not going to mess this up. Let’s see if he’ll bite_.”

Flirting is a subtle art, and involves a degree of feeling-out (no pun intended) and a substantial amount of risk. Opening yourself up to another person is also opening up to the possibility you’ll be misread, or you’ll do the misreading — both can be potentially mortifying, especially when surrounded by your friends.

“So, what’s your favorite drink?” Yui asked, breaking the slight pause.

With this question, Daichi thought he noticed something change in Yui. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but the way she _looked_ at him seemed different. He didn’t know how to react specifically, but all he knew is that he could feel his cheeks warming and his chest tighten. Suddenly, he became all the more aware of her… features. Her lips, her neck, her collarbone, covered by her shirt.

“ _Shake it off, Daichi_ ,” he thought to himself.

A foot away, Yui’s mental cheerleading squad was doing backflips as she knew he was making him sweat.

“I haven’t really acquired a taste yet, I think. I think I’ve just had a couple different beers and sake, but nothing too… fancy, yet?” He grinned sheepishly. Alcohol wasn’t exactly the smartest thing for an athlete.

“Well, I’m sure you’ll have plenty of time to experiment at college,” she said, playfully. “But that’s pretty far off.”

Daichi knew she didn’t mean anything bad by it, but bringing up college again brought back the feelings he was trying to push down. However, this time, another one joined them: Michimiya wouldn’t be there. Heart pangs. Ones he didn’t know were that strong.

“Yeah, I guess,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. “I’m sure you’re excited, too. You got into your choice school, you’ve got your fancy apartment lined up… everything’s coming up Yui.”

She smiled. He remembered.

“Yeah!” she said, momentarily turning off the flirt. Her smile turned from a smoulder to something genuinely warm — something more usually Yui. “It’s going to be a big adventure.”

She took a drink out of her cup. More warming sensation. Part of why she liked him so much was that she felt she could talk about “normal” stuff, too.

“I’m kind of going to miss this, though?” she said, inflecting a bit of a question. “I’m having a ton of fun, and I don’t want to like, get swamped in work and kind of lose myself.”

Daichi’s fluster broke as she mentioned this, mostly because he could sympathise. He swished his drink around in his cup, looking down at it before meeting Yui’s eyes directly.

“I don’t think that’ll happen,” he said with certainty. “Part of what I like about you so much is that you’re not afraid to be you.”

He was surprised that those words tumbled out of his mouth, but at this point he wasn’t exactly caring. He could see Yui’s expression change, grinning — this was something he’d seen before, and usually preceded by someone lifting her spirits.

“ _God, she’s pretty_ ,” he thought to himself.

Yui’s mind was running in circles.

“ _Wait, what did_ **_that_ ** _mean?_ ” she thought. “ _God_ **_damn_ ** _it. I thought I had him._ ”

Yui could feel herself blush a little. She needed to get out of there, but she knew that this was going to be a special night. She just felt so _good_ ; Sawamura was adding to that, and she wouldn’t change that for the world. She knew she was smiling like an idiot; she just hoped Daichi wouldn’t be able to tell.

“... thanks, Daichi,” she started. “I know I’m going to miss you.”

“ _Shit, abort, abort!_ ” she thought, alarms sounding. She knew she had to make a smooth exit, and she found that a good enough ending point.

Daichi was too busy with the butterflies in his heart to notice any kind of panic in Yui.

“ _She said she’d miss me,_ ” he thought, as he pushed his way to making a dignified parting comment as she walked out of the kitchen. Again, he allowed himself a quick glance at her fleeting shape — he cursed himself wanting to mix three types of intoxication at once. If the alcohol wasn’t enough, there was an emotional and physical one, too.

* * *

The night was still young, and the party would likely reach its apex within the next hour or two; Daichi had joined in watching the drinking games in the living room and occasionally sneaking glances at Yui whenever he was sure she wasn’t looking. Likewise, she had be doing the exact same thing, and thankfully neither noticed _every_ time: both deserved a little credit for being subtle. Gazes being met quickly averted with both parties, each thinking “shit, they noticed.”

Thankfully, Daichi started to have something else to focus on: a party host that had shifted from an anxious wreck to the center of attention. Asahi had found that after enough heckling that he was surprisingly good at whatever drinking game was put in front of him, and in the interest of having a decent party conclusion, it was a good idea to get him some water.

Again, Daichi found himself in the kitchen, this time pouring a glass of water for the grinning Karasuno Ace, who leaned his full weight against the countertops.

“Hoo boy, I don’t know why I worried,” he said, accepting the glass from his friend.

“You’re going to drink the whole thing, right now,” Daichi said. “You’re not puking tonight.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Asahi said, taking a long series of gulps that culminated in a satisfied gasp. “All done.”

“Good work.”

Asahi casually left the cup on the counter and looked at his captain, who again, was checking his phone. This would not stand.

“Alright, man, you’re going to either put your phone away or I’m going to hide it.”

This prompted a slight jump from Daichi. He didn’t like being found out.

“What’s with you and that, anyways?” he started. “You’ve never been some big tech head before.”

Daichi sighed.

“I think… I’m kind of just distracting myself tonight.”

“Why?!” said Asahi, frustrated. He could tell he wasn’t exactly pulling any punches, but after a couple victories on the drinking game table, he was past the point of caring.

“You were the one who said this was going to be fine.”

Daichi was entertained by this sudden forthcoming accusation from his normally-meek friend. However, it didn’t help that he was right. A deep breath in.

“Yui’s doing some weird things to me tonight.”

Asahi snorted. He was about to point out the innuendo, but a look from Daichi cut that off quickly.

“Shut up. Not like that.”

Asahi groaned.

“Look. We don’t have _time_ for lame Daichi tonight,” he said, putting a hand on his captain’s shoulder. “You guys were telling _me_ not to worry, and I’ve passed that on to you, I guess.”

He shook his head.

“Yui’s a hell of a girl. You guys are going to make _lovely_ kids together one day.”

Daichi laughed, then wretched. He brushed his friend’s hand off his shoulder; he knew he was kidding, but that wasn’t exactly the funniest joke.

“Shaddup, man,” he said, knowing he could take the joke. “Sometimes a girl can mess you up pretty easily.”

Asahi grinned, knowing he was putting the screws to Daichi for once.

“Alright, alright, alright,” he said, feigning compassion. After a second or two of pause, a thought hit his booze-addled brain that actually sounded like it made sense.

“Look, how many times did you guys tell me to just chase the feeling when you wanted me to come back to the team?”

Daichi looked up from his phone again, this time paying a little more attention.

“You guys allllways told me that I was worrying and thinking too much about it,” Asahi continued. “And look how it turned out! All that worrying was for nothing. Maybe it’s the same thing here…”

A short pause.

“Think about how many people make you feel the way she does.”

Daichi was wondering who the person in front of him was. The normal Asahi would have trouble _talking_ to girls, and all of a sudden he was dropping knowledge that _actually made sense_. Maybe he’d need to get the ace drunk tipsy more often.

“Alright. Daichi,” a slur started. “Do you trust me?”

Sawamura looked at Asahi, who’d by now pulled his hair out of the prepared bun into a more casual ponytail.

“...Sure?”

“Then give me your phone.”

Daichi felt his brow furrow.

“Give _you_ my phone? Like this? Not going to happen.”

Asahi sighed and rolled his eyes. He wasn’t about to black out any time soon.

“Look, give it to me. I’m going to put it somewhere you can’t get it, and you can grab it tomorrow. You’re going to miss your shot if you keep your face buried in it, and then you’re going to hate yourself for it.”

Daichi held it in his hand, pondering. After a second, he suddenly was snapped to attention by the doorbell ringing; Asahi took the initiative to grab the phone out of his hand and dash off to answer the door. Annoyed, but not pissed, Daichi decided to take it as a sign.

“ _Alright, let’s go,_ ” he thought, jogging after the host, mostly to make sure he didn’t trip over anything.

As soon as he entered the living room (to which the front door opened up into) he found both himself freezing beside an anxious-looking ace: the buzzed confidence clearly was not permanent.

Entering the house was a familiar face, but one that both of them weren’t sure about the circumstances of.

“Shimizu!” both of them exclaimed.

Both of them had talked about Shimizu’s involvement with the volleyball team, but one word usually described her pretty well: _elegant_. Kiyoko has removed her shoes to enter the house, but the combination of the her outerwear, her makeup and hair made them equally on edge. This wasn’t exactly a ballroom, or a pageant; while she wasn’t wearing a gown, her aura felt like it.

Daichi could hear Asahi scrambling for an explanation as more people noticed a new entrant to the party; Nishinoya and Tanaka had been sufficiently reigned in (and maybe distracted by the new availability of other ladies), but they weren’t exactly subtle about welcoming her from across the room.

They were drinking, and a little sloppy, and far from the people Daichi and Asahi wanted her to think they were. They could calm everyone down. They could keep the party from getting too out of control. They could make sure she would still want to talk to them again after.

Then they saw her pull out two wine bottles out of her bag, and ask for directions to the fridge. Both deadpanned immediately, pointed her in the direction of the kitchen, then shot each other a look; party saved.

Apart from this, though, Daichi could hear a bit of laughing at their expense, subtle at first, but evident once he’d wheeled in the direction of the noise.

Yui, clearly enjoying both of their awkwardness. A couple steps and she was close enough to talk.

“What, you guys didn’t think we’d tell her?” she said, grinning.

“I mean, I didn’t think she’d... want to be... here?” Asahi stuttered, looking a bit defeated. Of course he’d want their manager with them; he just didn’t know if she would want to put up with _them_ all night.

“You guys are dorks,” Yui said, this time looking at Daichi. “You guys need some lessons on how to treat a lady — of _course_ she’d want to be here.”

Asahi could tell Daichi was flustered, so he defused the situation in the best way Drunk Ace knew how.

“Hey, we are _catches_ !” he said, pulled Daichi in beside him. This prompted a further laugh from Yui, mostly in reaction to a side of Asahi she hasn’t previously seen before. She shot Daichi another one of those smouldering looks, saying nothing, but trying to say “ _I know_ ,” with her expression.

Perhaps the buzz had dulled her subtlety, but even Drunk Ace could tell something was up here. Yui shook her head and then sashayed off again, this time to try to hunt for a comfy spot on a couch to join what was quickly becoming a volleyball highlights showcase on the TV.

As soon as she was out of earshot, Daichi felt a sharp punch in his shoulder. He wheeled his head around to Asahi.

“I swear to god, if you let that one go I’m never going to let you hear the end of it. And if you don’t make a move soon, _I am going to tell Suga_.”

That last part smarted Daichi up pretty quickly; as entertaining and sobering as Drunk Ace was, he knew that the third musketeer was equally (if not more) bad for pushing him to do things he wasn’t the most confident about.

“Alright, alright,” he said, with a smirk. “Game time.”

* * *

Yui knew what she was doing, and thankfully, no one spoiled it.

After a successful tease to prod Daichi’s attention, she’d made sure to throw a little more swing in her hips as she could tell he was watching her walk over to the couch. She wasn’t content sitting — not for what she wanted. She put up her feet in the unoccupied seat beside her, and waited.

As she could see him walking over out of the corner of her eye, she thought to herself, satisfied:

“ _Bingo._ ”

Daichi needed a seat, and the only option that he would be able to see would be beside her. The gentlemen that he was, he wouldn’t want to inconvenience her _too_ much as she was (supposedly) fixed on the volleyball that was on the TV.

It worked out exactly as she’d planned: while she couldn’t see the courage-gathering that went on in his mind, he’d walked up to the space her legs occupied, picked them up, and sat down before replacing them on his lap. Nothing too outrageous, yet not exactly without purpose; it was contact, however small.

“ _Good boy_ ,” she thought.

Daichi was sweating. He had Yui’s legs resting on the top of his thighs, and he could feel her calves through the fabric of their jeans; obviously not the most erotic body part, but for him, it didn’t matter. It was **Yui**. Touching him. And honestly, to Daichi, that was pretty sweet.

A funny thing happened, though. Daichi could feel small pangs of panic, but he also realized he was being kind of silly.

“ _Alright, man, let’s walk through this,_ ” he thought. “ _You and an extremely beautiful girl have been friends since middle school. You’ve recently realized you_ **_really_ ** _like her. Like,_ **_really_ ** _like her. And you think she might like you too._ ”

A small pause. A moment of concession in Daichi’s head.

“ _Alright, you kind of have a_ ** _lot_** _of evidence that she might like you too._ _The charm at prelims. The support at Nationals. The looks, the teasing, the help, the toast earlier..._ ”

He stole a glance over at her when he was sure she was focused on the Canada vs Japan match from the previous Olympic qualifier. The glow from the TV cast light on her soft skin; Daichi realized that he wasn’t sure if he’d ever seen her dressed or looking like this before.

Suddenly, some things fell into place for our friend Sawamura.

Up until this point, Daichi was working off the assumption that while Yui and him were friends and compatible _on paper_ , he still was worried that he could ruin things in the long term with acting selfishly. He was leaving. She was leaving. He didn’t want to leave her unhappy. He didn’t want to take something just to make him happy.

But tonight, that one-sidedness seemed a little less valid. Daichi realized that she had dressed up for _him_ just as much as he had for her. All that teasing, confidence, smiles… they were for him. Or well, at least _pointed at him_. And well, that was enough for him.

Daichi inhaled. It was now or never. Time to test something.

Daichi’s forearms were draped over Yui’s shins, but he pulled his left hand up to innocently poke at the top one of her feet. This made her squirm a little, shifting both of her legs are she looked over at the source of annoyance. He wanted her attention.

Two grins, gazes meeting, then his head turning to watch the TV. Daichi’s right hand (the one closer to her) reached to rest on her outer knee, gently, slowly, scritching the fabric of her jeans. He knew this wasn’t the most obvious nor the most risque of moves; he just wanted to see how she’d react.

“ _Oh God, what’s he doing?_ ” she thought, slightly flustered as she could feel the heat rising in her cheeks. She loved the contact — not just the touch, but the _thought_ behind it. Here he was, Daichi Sawamura, touching _her_. Again, tingles rolled over her skin as she could feel his fingers moving slowly against her. She tried to keep from staring at him and drawing attention from the others; she knew that they both had a part to play in keeping things relatively between them, but he wasn’t making it easy.

More shifting from Yui prompted a stop in movement from Daichi; no longer trailing his fingers, but now just lightly gripping. There was no mistaking it now — she knew that he was meaning to do something instead of an unconscious tic. The question is, how would she react?

Daichi was almost disappointed as she threw her legs over to sit up straight; his mind sounded alarms that he’d gone too far, or screwed something up. However, it was immediately replaced with a warm feeling rushing over all others as he felt her shift herself on the couch, this time, closer to him. She leaned forward, seemingly intent on paying attention to the game, but slowly snuck a hand over to rest on Daichi’s knee.

It was her turn.

When two people are matched in a game of teasing, there’s obviously an idea that raising the stakes too quickly — especially when you’re unsure of how far the other party wants to go — is generally a bit dangerous. Both captains knew that the night was still young, and neither were going anywhere any time soon; it was just a matter of finding out as much as they could, and where that information would take them.

Daichi felt a very subtle change in position, and then pressure on his kneecap as Yui’s finger made contact. He noticed that she had done well in hiding it; leaning forward with her elbows resting on her knees for support meant she could stealthily trace patterns without anyone noticing.

Like Yui had realized seconds before, Daichi now knew that he wasn’t imagining her participation. He could feel his leg tense and a smile cross his face, and suddenly saw her throw a glance back at him, almost curious about his expression.

She _was_ curious, mostly because she’d imagined what it would have been like to tease him before, but never thought she’d get the chance. She lazily dragged her finger across his kneecap, then a tad higher onto the very ends of his thigh; sometimes with these things, it was a game of millimeters between a relatively innocent touch to a more demanding one.

In what she could tell from the small look (of course, on the way to looking past him, to hide it), she was satisfied with what she saw. She could feel him tense, but the _shudder_ she noticed brought out more of an animalistic feeling than she would have liked to admit.

“ _Hmm. I could get used to this…_ ” she thought. She never would have pictured herself as the aggressive type, but something about this cat and mouse game worked well for her.

That is, until Daichi decided to drop his hand from where it rested along the back of the couch, ending with a touch resting on her back.

With him pressing against the thin fabric of her t-shirt with his fingertips providing pressure, she had to resist melting as tingles spread across her. Daichi could tell she was holding back.

“ _Hm,_ ” he thought. “ _I could either be terrible, or…_ ”

He decided not to consider an alternative.

Pressure left from fingertips, and was replaced with one short, lazy stroke down an inch of her back. He didn’t want to push too hard; just something that he knew would send a message; a fingertip on the way down, then a small brush with the back of his finger on the way up.

To Yui, this was really unfair.

With a room full of people, and others behind the couch, it was extremely dangerous that any kind of reaction would give them away quite easily. Despite alcohol dulling _some_ senses, she wasn’t about to want to deal with teasing from the entire rest of the party.

That was about 15% of her brain process; the other 85% was concentrating on how damn _good_ Daichi’s fingers felt. It was subtle, and almost as if he was doing it absentmindedly; she shot him a look back and saw he wouldn’t meet it. He knew what he was doing. She arched her back just enough that she was sure he would notice her reaction, and hopefully give him a little encouragement.

Daichi’s finger travelled farther up her back, keeping his movements small enough that no one would notice; though she was clothed, he couldn’t help but notice how _soft_ she felt. He wasn’t sure if it was the shirt or a symptom of the skin underneath, but he could feel a warmth radiating off Yui. When he felt her react, a small part of him both melted and craved to make her do _more_ ; before he knew it, the usual feeling ran into an unfamiliar texture.

Yui turned scarlet as she realized he’d hit her bra, and was a _little_ disappointed when she could feel him pull his hand away in surprise. Poor boy — it was a bit cute, though.

She turned her head back to meet his gaze, and she could tell he was nervous, if not a bit apologetic. There was also something else, though… maybe a certain _lack_ of apology. A little bit of a daring look, telling her “sorry, not sorry.” Yui couldn’t help but be inspired with a little boldness of her own.

Shifting her weight back up to sit up straight, she leaned over to Daichi’s ear, simultaneously bringing her far hand to his thigh and angling her body against his. His leg was a solid mass — she knew that volleyball developed certain things better than others, and all that jumping and running gifted Daichi with strength. She knew that by exhaling just _right_ against his ear, combined with a certain growl in her tone, it would emphasize her message.

“You’re _mean_.”

After that, she stood up, and walked away, leaving Daichi to wonder how his fist got so clenched and when the goosebumps would go down.

* * *

Daichi was conflicted; more than anything, he wanted to follow Yui and continue this, but he also knew that if he shadowed her like a puppy dog people would notice. He could also tell his was a bit of a power game; both of them were fully invested, now.

After a minute of pretending to watch the conclusion of the volleyball game, Daichi stood up and surveyed the party. More people were in that sweet state of “tipsy, happy, but not too sloppy” that all good parties need as a foundation, and he noticed that the volume was raised.

Good. More to drown out anything they were going to say to each other.

A small part of Yui was disappointed that Daichi didn’t follow her; she made her way back to the kitchen to greet Kiyoko and refill her glass. Her interaction with the boy’s team manager were pretty limited, but they _were_ both third years; by now they’d had plenty of time around each other.

Shimizu had uncorked her first bottle of white wine and was sipping it out of a glass she had found in the Azumane family’s cupboard.

“Hey, Shimizu!” Yui said cheerily. She realized that by now it was likely that the buzz had affected how her words were coming out of her mouth, and found it hard not to be a little self-conscious.

“Evening, Michimiya,” she said. Shimizu seemed a bit more relaxed now that she can come in, and that overpowering from before had been tempered by absorbing the overall vibe of the party.

“How’ve you been tonight?”

Yui sighed heavily with a positive tone.

“Tonight has been… something,” she said, smiling at her classmate. “You’ve missed out on some of the good parts already, but I think you’ll be entertained by drunk Azumane pretty soon.”

Shimizu sharply exhaled from her nose in a bit of a laugh, which caught Yui off-guard.

“Yeah, he can be… interesting,” she said. “Right after Nationals we got a chance to see a little bit of this, but it seems a little more full-blown now.”

Coincidentally, this was a perfect time for both of them to look over at Asahi, who was regaling two of the girl’s team members with a reliving of his climactic spikes during the Nationals finals. Of course, there was a certain embellishing, but an enthusiastic Noya and Tanaka helped add some credibility to the surely-superhuman feats.

Yui shook her head.

“I didn’t think he had it in him,” she said.

“Me either,” Shimizu said with a laugh. “Sometimes you need that little extra… push?”

She looked over at Yui and smiled a little too knowingly for the latter’s liking. She furrowed her brow and considered the possibilities; something was up.

“During our training camp in the summer, some of the other schools’ managers were interested in him,” Shimizu continued.

“ _No!_ ” Yui said, suddenly greatly entertained.

“It’s weird… we’ve known him for… how long? Not that the guy’s undateable, but....”

“Yeah. I had to say as much to them. I feel like anyone who’d want to date him would really need to _get_ him beforehand. They might be running into a bit of a brick wall, otherwise.”

Yui shifted to lean against the kitchen counter.

“Well… he kind of seems alright tonight.”

“Yeah,” Shimizu started. “Again, sometimes it’s about taking that step.”

Shimizu walked off to join the party a bit more properly, posting up at the table where Asahi suddenly became a little more tempered in his bragging. He was suddenly in the presence of an objective party that could be a more reliable source to his feats.

Yui smiled as she saw this reaction. None of the three third years on the team had ever gone after Shimizu, and she thought that was a bit odd. She was absolutely _beautiful_ in the ways Yui felt she wasn’t, sometimes — elegant, composed, and a look that would shatter anyone’s composure.

“ _Goals, I guess_ ,” she thought.

She paused, thinking about all that had happened tonight. Daichi and her had never had _the talk_ in the way that either of them had said their feelings outright, but all the nonverbal stuff that had happened so far at this party felt pretty confirming to her. However, there was that _doubt_ creeping in.

“ _What if… this is all it is?_ ” she thought. “ _What if it’s just… us being dumb and drunk?_ ”

To her, this wasn’t okay. She knew that she wanted something deeper with him. She had spent too long talking herself in and out of situations where these feelings felt okay; she thought she was past those parts that kept her from trying to move things forward.

“ _God, shut up, brain,_ ” she thought, taking another drink from her cup.

“What’s wrong?”

A certain voice snapped her out of her overthinking, and Yui looked up to see Suga hovering a couple steps away.

“Ugh, Suga, sorry,” she started. “Nothing, I swear.”

Suga’s mouth settled into a bit of a smirk.

“I saw you having some lovely _conversations_ with our boy over there,” he started. “And now you’re down in the dumps all of a sudden.”

Yui grinned, mostly due to the tone Drunk Suga was taking. She had confided in Sober Suga in the past, perhaps in moments of weakness due to his closeness to Daichi — she knew he was in her corner, so the teasing didn’t feel terrible.

“Did he say something? I swear, if he did…” he said, motioning to roll up his sleeve.

“No no!” she said, laughing, “I swear, he’s okay. I’m just… working my magic.”

“Whoa-ho, look out world!” Suga said, feigning astonishment. “Michimiya Yui suddenly has some confidence.”

“It’s been… nice?” Yui said, suddenly feeling a tad indulgent. “I just kind of had this weird moment where I like, caught myself thinking about how good this is going.”

“And suddenly you’re trying to talk yourself down?” he said.

Yui laughed.

“Maaaybe a little bit.”

“Seriously, Yui,” Suga said, joining her against the counter and putting his arm around her shoulder. “You’re golden. I swear. You’ve got plenty of time to talk to him, and Asahi’s got a nice guest bedroom a little away from the party and there’s some condoms in the bathroom drawer...”

This was met with a sharp elbow to the ribs.

“Alright, alright, maybe not _that_ far, yet,” he said, begging off. “But I know the guy pretty well, and he’s... different…. tonight.”

This lit Yui up like a Christmas tree; an outside source looking in was the confidence boost she needed.

“You bring out this big goofball in him. We don’t get to see that too much.”

She turned her head and smiled at the vice captain.

“Suga… I think that’s what I needed to get my head back in the game. Thanks.”

“That’s what they pay me for,” he said, taking a long drink out of his cup. “Emotional support and the occasional kick in the ass.”

“Yeah yeah,” she said, eliciting a small laugh. “Let’s not inflate your ego _too_ much.”

“Too late,” he said, moving to join the re-telling of the growing legend of Azumane Asahi.

Yui scanned the room for Daichi, who she soon spotted pulling on a hoodie and sliding the door open to leave the house. This sent a wave of panic over her.

“ _He isn’t_ **_leaving_ ** _, is he?_ ”

However, just as this feeling reached a crescendo inside her, it was quieted by his own quick glance to find her; their eyes met, and a simple head flick towards the door from Daichi told her all she needed to know.

“Follow me.”

She suddenly found herself running (well, as subtly as she could) back to the coat room to find something warm of her own to pull on. It’s very hard to be stealthy when hardwood floors will give you away every time.

The sharp winter air hit Daichi in the face as he tried not to let too much into the house. After that whole thing on the couch he felt like he needed to normalize his temperature again, and something about the ongoing din of the party made him want to take a break. The blast to the face also served as a little bit of a wake-up to what he just did.

He wasn’t planning on it, but this was one of those moments where Daichi felt like he was moving on his own; he’d just wanted to get an idea of where she was before he stepped out, but seeing her standing there, alone, made him think one thing.

He wanted her with him. So he decided to ask her.

Daichi exhaled steam from his mouth as he took a second to admire the gently-falling snow. Despite the agonizing feeling while wondering if Yui would follow, this was a good night, even if she didn’t. Daichi wasn’t the type to lose his composure, but something about coming into this situation with Yui shook him a little.

Equally rattling was the sudden jerking open of the sliding door, and Daichi was almost scared to turn around. Eventually, though, he gathered his courage and shifted to lean against the wall of the entrance of the Azumane house.

There she was, cute as hell. Alone. With him.

“Hey again,” she said, her lips shifting into a smile.

He couldn’t help but grin himself, hearing that from her. Ten minutes ago they felt like they were getting ahead of themselves, and now, simple, comfortable silence. Daichi almost felt like the cold had downshifted them back to somewhere between the blaze of before and the embers before that. There was this _balance_ that was brought on by the new context of what both of them were capable of.

In Daichi’s head, he was considering the possibilities: he could leave things where they were and always be able to rest on the happiness that brought him, or he could continue to risk ruining the whole thing, and see where it led.

That was scary as hell to him.

Thankfully, Sawamura Daichi knew that sometimes fear is a sign that you really need to do something.

“I’m glad I’m not so mean you wouldn’t follow,” he said, joking under his breath.

Yui was a bit stunned at his straightforwardness.

“ _Not backing down, huh, Daichi?_ ” she thought. Suddenly, she was greatly entertained. Something about that situation put them both off their planned games, and it was nice that he wanted to spar some more.

She sat for a second about how she would respond: something sultry? Something self-deprecating? Should she just abandon the whole thing now? Laugh it off?

Another second passed. This was too much thinking. Those voices… just didn’t sound like... _Yui_. Not right now.

Maybe _later_ , but not right now. She laughed, but not in a way to dismiss what he’d just said.

“Hey, come on,” she started. “I’ll admit, you got me curious. That wasn’t a side of you I thought I was going to see tonight.”

Daichi couldn’t help but laugh along with her, suddenly realizing the front _he_ was putting up, too.

“Alright, alright, you got me,” he said, feigning defeat. “But you gotta admit, that took a little bit of guts, right?”

“I’ll give you that,” she said, rolling her eyes. “But I think I deserve some credit too, you know?”

Another set of shared grins. They knew they were both the best type of dorks.

A moment of silence where nothing needed to be said. The snow kept falling, and the noise of the party kept going, muffled by the door. No one had noticed they were gone.

Daichi tried to put into words how he felt right then, looking at her: not a feeling of immediate burning _need_ , but a return to that constant _warming_ that engulfed him earlier. The game of teasing and baiting had fallen a bit apart, but to be honest, he didn’t mind. This was better. Seeing the real her was better. He didn’t know how, exactly, but he wanted the way he smiled and looked at her to tell her that. He wanted her to know.

But then, he suddenly a small “huh” moment.

He could just _tell_ her.

“ _But then it could go wrong,_ ” he thought. An internal censor shut that line of thinking down right quick.

Until another feeling brought it roaring back.

“Yui…” he started. “What are we doing?”

He ended this off with a knowing grin. Yui knew the jig was up. She laughed, almost caught.

“I… don’t know,” she started, matching his smile. “I think the booze has got us a little silly.”

“ _But it’s not. And that’s just an excuse to brush this off,_ ” she thought, instantly regretting what she had said.

Daichi considered it, but only for a nanosecond. He knew her. He knew himself. Again, this wouldn’t get to him.

“Come on,” he said, propping against the stone walls of the entryway. “You can’t mean that.”

His words were more a joking calling-out than tinged by any kind of hurt. Yui felt like he was giving her a chance, and took it with a sheepish look.

“Yeah. You’re right.”

Another short pause. Yui wasn’t sure what to say. Searching for a way to stall, she opened her mouth, but was cut off at probably just the right time.

“Yui…” began Daichi. “... I like you. A lot.”

Yui’s eyes went wide. She teased him about being direct before, but this was… different.

On Daichi’s side, alarms were going off in his head that he decided to ignore. He was too deep to back out now.

“I’ve always… noticed you here. With me. Not like, in a way that I’m talking about now, but just…” he stopped himself. “Just… wait a second.”

He collected his thoughts. He wanted to say something cool. Something that would win her instantly. Something she would want to hear.

But, ultimately, he knew that wasn’t Daichi. Daichi didn’t dance around things. Deep breath.

“Tonight I saw you in a different way than I had before — and trust me,” he said, worrying about how she’d take it, “booze had nothing to do with it, I swear.”

“I think I just kind of realized what you mean to me. When I said that I would miss you earlier, I meant it. Not in the polite, ‘that’s what you say to people’ way. I actually will.”

Yui could feel a growing electricity inside of her that she could only describe as positive. From all the years she knew had known Daichi, she knew that he wasn’t the type to sugarcoat things; this was as real as it could get.

“I know this is going to sound weird, but like… I don’t want this to end.”

Her heart lept.

“At least not tonight,” he said, with a smile. His gaze drifted down to his feet, which were starting to shuffle in the cold to keep warm.

“You…” he started, searching for the words. “I don’t think I would’ve been able to have a good night tonight without you here. You… make me really happy. In a different way. In a _good_ way! You make me feel…”

He trailed off.

“... warm?” she said, completing his sentence.

He looked up from his shoes to meet her eyes again. Daichi’s expression shifted to one of being impressed that she could suddenly read his thoughts.

“Yeah,” he said, nodding his head. “Warm.”

As he continued, he felt like he was talking to keep talking to try to keep her from responding. If she couldn’t talk, she couldn’t reject him. If she couldn’t talk, he couldn’t feel stupid.

“I know we’ve been drinking, and I’m rambling, and I didn’t mean to give you the impression that I was just… teasing you for fun? I respect you _way_ too much for that, and I guess what I want to say is..”

During all this, Yui’s mind and heart had been doing backflips. She thought _she_ was the one who was going to have the awkward “please accept me” confession, but here was Sawamura Daichi, in front of her, stammering his way through… _something_ she could only describe as amazing.

He was… a lot of things right now. His stammering was cute. His honesty was touching; it was pretty much everything she’d ever wanted from this discussion, which had played out more than a few times in her head.

The way his hair was ruffled just _right_ was… sexy? She wanted to run her hands through it. That brick wall was looking kind of sturdy and...

“ _Alright, Yui, put that on pause for a second,_ ” she thought.

“Daichi,” she said, cutting him off from a fifth sentence of truly, absolutely nothing.

“ _Oh god, here it comes_ ,” he thought.

“I’ve… cared about you for a… long time,” she said. “I’ve been careful, mostly because I didn’t want to be.. distracting?”

She looked out at the snow again.

“You and the team were doing all these _awesome_ things and I kind of wanted to just be there and support you for them. Sometimes I felt a bit _jealous_ of all that, but… after a while, I realized that I admired you. When I’m with you, I feel so… motivated to be better. Not just for you, but… for me, too.”

She gulped. The words kind of tumbled out of her; at this point there wasn’t much she could do besides be honest.

“I-I-I… _want_ you,” she said, instantly turning scarlet. “I want more of that feeling. I want to do that for you, too.”

“A-and trust me, that sounds terrible, but I don’t mean in like that. Alright, _maybeIdo_ , but…”

She was too busy being frustrated with her inability to articulate herself to care at this point. She took a deep breath, collected herself, and looked at him square in the eyes.

“I don’t want this to end tonight,” she said.

It took all her courage, but she reached forward and put her fingertips against his chest. Her tone was less sexy and flirting, but more straightforward and as confident as she could be. She didn’t want any kind of ambiguity; there couldn’t be any more guessing.

“I don’t want this to end tonight,” she repeated. “I don’t want this to end when we go to college. I feel like even though I’ve known you, for all this time, I’m only starting to see a little bit of the _entire_ Daichi tonight.”

“Honestly, that makes me like him even more.”

If it was below freezing outside, Daichi couldn’t tell. There was a _beautiful_ girl in front of him, telling him that he was good enough for her. And that she wanted _him_. And that… that was the good stuff.

“I…” he started. “... feel the same way?”

All he could do was grin like a goof.

“Like, I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but… you’re amazing,” he said, shaking his head for emphasis. “You’ve been… _amazing_ to me through all of this.”

He had to shake off the smile and the lack of vocabulary. It wouldn’t suit this moment.

“I... want to make you happy,” he said. “I want to know the entire Yui, too.”

That electricity that Yui had felt before seemed to cross over between them; both of them felt that they had made the connection they had wanted to for a really long time. Yui’s hand that had pressed against Daichi recoiled, but not in fear; the wide grin on her face said otherwise.

“I’d like that, Daichi.”

Both stood in the snowy entryway for what seemed like minutes, locked in a stare. Both didn’t know what to say — it seemed like that’s all that was needed for now.

The deadlock was broken by Daichi’s involuntary shiver. A combination of the cold and the adrenaline from the situation had kicked his senses back to reality, and it became pretty evident that they would need to head inside.

“Augh! Idiot! You came out here in a sweater!” Yui said, suddenly aware. She punched him playfully in the chest. “Let’s get you inside before you get sick.”

She put a hand on the door in order to slide in open, but she found Daichi’s hand holding her wrist, keeping her from doing it.

Yui heard him say her name, and tilted her head to meet face him. All she felt next was warmth, as Daichi had leaned over to press his lips to hers. Not anything forceful or sudden — a slow, smooth transition into something he’d wanted to do for a long time.

Suddenly, the temperature didn’t matter again, as Yui let go of the door; her hand travelled back to press fully against Daichi’s broad chest, and she stepped to close the distance between them. Sometimes, kisses show passion through connection; Yui could feel (besides some other stirring feelings that thought she had put on pause) that Daichi was trying to tell her something with this.

Not that she could tell specifically — only that it was intoxicating.

Daichi pulled away eventually, pleased to see Yui’s eyes still closed for a moment as she processed the kiss. As she opened her eyes; he could see the smallest of teardrops forming in them and couldn’t help but feel them happening himself. He was beyond happy — the bliss was infectious.

This had worked out. He didn’t mess it up. And this wasn’t the end of it.

“I think we’d better get inside,” he said. Smiling and moving to open the door. “We’ll talk… later?”

Yui could only muster a momentary “yeah,” before recovering enough to deliver another punch — harder this time — to Daichi’s chest.

“You spring _that_ on me and you expect us to just ‘ _go back inside’_ ?!” she whisper-shouted, playfully putting on her ‘stupid Daichi’ voice. She had _loved_ what he had done, but at this point she felt she was justified in putting the screws to him a little bit.

“Hey now!” Daichi said, rubbing his chest. “You said it yourself, I don’t need to get sick.”

Daichi was halfway inside when he felt a swift kick in his behind; Yui then shoved him inside with both hands, and couldn’t help but add something before people were within earshot.

“I was going to take it back, but noooope! Sawamura Daichi: certified **mean**.”

Daichi snorted, laughing and kicking off his shoes.

“Alright alright. Let me at least take your coat,” he said, offering his arm to Yui.

She feigned a further “oh you best be sorry” expression as she handed him her things.

“What a gentleman,” she said, half-joking, half-sarcastic.

Daichi was quick to sneak back inside the party as if he’d never left, walking down the deserted hallway to the bedrooms where the coats were stored. While his words were ones of teasing, inside he was thankful he didn’t make some kind of miraculous screw-up that would’ve both killed the party and surely their friendship.

The kiss was… spontaneous. He felt it was the only other thing he could do at that moment to show her how he felt, and well, he wanted to do it. She was worth it — he was just as surprised at his forwardness as she probably was. The joking was the only way he could think of moving it back inside without more chances to make it awkward — he exhaled as he tossed the coat into the dark room.

“ _Good work, Daichi. You didn’t mess it up._ ”

He turned back towards the hallway, but was met with a silhouette of someone at the end; for a second, he thought it was Yui, and his mind panicked at the possibility of trying to hide something _else_ in the middle of this party.

However, he soon noticed the person was taller, and more broader.

“ _Oh, it’s only Suga_ ,” he started. This feeling of relief was soon replaced by a different type of panic.

“ _Oh shit, it’s Suga._ ”

A voice escaped from the shadow, calm, cool and oddly satisfied.

“Well, well, well, my friend, where have you been?”

“Nowhere,” Daichi replied. He knew that it didn’t make sense to hide it, but at the same time, he didn’t want to reveal too much about this.

“Oh whatever, dude. Yui is practically _vibrating_ out there. What happened?”

“We… talked it out?” Daichi offered, hoping that this would be enough to get Suga off his back. His friend waved his hands, urging _more_.

“We’re going to try to make something work,” he said. Though it had only been a few minutes ago, he still felt he was looking back and reminiscing about something fondly as a grin broke across his face.

Suga’s smile matched his.

“You know I could say a million and one things about this, but I’ll just leave it at ‘I’m happy for you,’” he said, walking towards Daichi and putting his arm around him as they headed back into the party. “You know me and Asahi only want the best for you.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Daichi said, a bit sheepish. “I’m glad for that, I guess.”

Yui noticed them come back into the party, and she beamed as Daichi met her gaze. There wasn’t much to say between them that other people needed to hear, but at this point he was brimming with enthusiasm: this whole thing had worked out exactly how she wanted.

This wasn’t exactly like Daichi had asked her to marry him; there wasn’t a need for a grand announcement to the rest of their friends, especially since they’d yet to go on an actual _date_ yet. Yui felt oddly confident, though, that they wouldn’t need to tread on ice for much longer.

The problem now, however, was pacing herself. Both the alcohol and the confessions had intoxicated her significantly, and water was probably the best thing for her at this point. After walking to the kitchen, she dumped out the dregs in her cup and filled it with water from the sink. Beside her was an imposing, but surprisingly mellow figure. Asahi had downshifted considerably from his peak as life of the party, and was now, like her, in hangover prevention mode.

Each of them assumed the comfiest lean they could against the kitchen counters, looking out at people generally having fun; card games were still being played on the table, volleyball highlights were still on the TV, and some people were off in their own small groups or pairs, giving the house an overall warm tone.

“Phew,” Asahi sighed.

“Phew?” Yui turned to the formerly-Drunk Ace, questioning.

“Good party,” he replied.

“Definitely!”

Yui grinned. Even though they didn’t get a chance to talk much, Asahi was one of her favorite people to observe from afar. Sensitive, yet stalwart; it was a weird combination, when she thought about it. Tonight’s festivities did nothing but deepened the mystery, mostly because Drunk Asahi wasn’t the blubbering mess she’d pictured him to be.

“You guys talked, right?”

Yui snapped to attention.

“You know, out there,” Asahi said, motioning outside with a flick of the wrist.

Pausing, then sheepishly conceding, Yui figured that best friends were always going to talk.

“...yeah.”

Another pause, this time from him.

“Good,” he said as he lurched forward, pushing his weight off the counter. “I’m happy.”

Yui turned to look at him leaving. He dug what looked like a cell phone out of his pocket, tossing it to himself as he walked in the direction of the now-returning Daichi. Asahi tossed it to him, which Daichi barely caught, and Yui could see a little bit of… congratulations? Celebration? Merriment?... between the three friends.

She was a little embarrassed, but also a bit happy she’d gotten the stamp of approval. Suga had been one thing, but Asahi wasn’t totally in her corner. At least not yet.

He caught her gaze again. She knew he wasn’t psychic, but after motioning to the both of them, Yui’s look was clear: “ _what, does everyone know?_ ”

Daichi laughed then gave her a warm smile. He could tell she was joking, but was surprised to see her tapping away furiously at her phone before feeling his vibrate in his hand.

“ **_MY:_ ** _So, do I get a pass from your boys, or what?_ ”

He looked up to see an almost expectant Yui looking back at him. Part of what he liked about her was that her confidence wavered sometimes just enough to be cute; it wasn’t like he was going to admit he never fished from time to time, either.

He fired a quick response back.

“ **_SD:_ ** _10/10, but you already knew that._ ”

Daichi loved seeing her face light up when she read the response. He wanted to do that more often.

From here, the party slowed down considerably, mostly due to necessity. The more responsible of attendees started to drift out, mostly citing work, studying or a curfew that they couldn’t risk any longer. There were the traditional “lamer” jokes thrown in with some the necessary thank-yous, especially to people who were helping others get home.

Daichi found ways to get closer to Yui between all this; a bump of a foot under a table, a playful nudge that he was sure no one else could see. Eventually, they found themselves one of five people left: both of them, Asahi, Sugawara, and Shimizu. All of them lounged on the couch, in various states of comfort, chatting about whatever and relaxing.

Yui felt her phone vibrate, but she was perplexed as she hadn’t seen Daichi type anything for a while. Checking the notification, she saw that the sender was Shimizu, which she wasn’t exactly expecting.

“ **_SK:_ ** _Thinking about getting out of here in the next couple minutes. Want to go home together?_ ”

This was kind of unexpected to Yui, but through the waning buzz she put some puzzle pieces together; Shimizu was giving her an out in case she needed it. She thought to herself for a moment: this night had been amazing, but she wasn’t quite sure it was over yet. Flirting, confessions, a kiss…

“ _Hm,_ ” she thought, flipping open her phone.

“ **_MY:_ ** _Nah, I think I’m going to stay and see if they need my help cleaning up. Thanks for the offer! ^_^_ **”**

Shimizu had known all three of the boys for years, so she wasn’t exactly worried; it was just the polite thing to do. After receiving Yui’s reply, she flipped closed her phone, stretched and stood up.

“I think it’s time for me to head home.”

“How are you getting there? Do you need a cab?” Daichi offered.

“I think I’m going to walk. It’s nice enough out and I’m not feeling the wine as much anymore,” she said, pausing and turning to the now-Lounging Ace.

“Thanks for the fun time.”

“Ugh,” Asahi groaned, looking up from his face being buried in a pillow. “Thanks for coming. If I’m alive tomorrow, let’s figure out food or something.”

Suga grinned at his dying friend from across the room. He then glanced at Daichi and Yui, noted the tension, and suddenly had a lightbulb go off in his head. He was the problem, here. But there was a great way to solve that.

“Ehhh I’m not exactly cool with letting you walk home alone,” he said, stepping forward. “Let me get my coat and I’ll get you there.”

“Seriously, I’m fi-” Shimizu started, but was cut off abruptly by a look from Suga. You know the one: the “seriously, roll with it.”

“Sure.”

“Daichi, get our lumbering friend to bed and maybe some water in him. I’ll text you when I’m coming back and we can get this place cleaned up.”

Suga wasn’t the most subtle with his remaining intoxication, so pretty much everyone in the room (minus the Sleepy Ace) knew what was going on. They were giving Daichi and Yui some room, but each decided to spare them from the embarrassment.

That doesn’t mean they weren’t going to run with it, though.

With Shimizu and Suga stepped out, Daichi forced a glass of water down Asahi’s throat before slinging his arm around his shoulder and helping to walk him to bed. Along the way, Yui could hear echoes of admonishment through the hallway, then decided to follow along with another glass of water — it seemed like the nice thing to do.

Asahi’s room was almost _too_ clean for a teenage boy, but the anxiety that comes with people invading your house spurred him to tidy up obsessively. Yui leaned against the doorframe just as Asahi flumped onto his bed, mumbled some things to Daichi as he rummaged under the covers, and promptly fell asleep.

“I guess I’ll just leave this here, then,” Yui said, placing the glass of water on his nightside table. She couldn’t help but giggle just a little bit, mostly because Asahi seemed to tucker out extra fast.

Both Daichi and Yui left the room, turning the light off behind them and closing the door. They looked at each other, with both coming to a similar conclusion in their head:

“ _We’re alone_ ,” Daichi thought.

“ _And no one’s around for a bit_ ,” Yui thought.

“ _Crap_ ,” both of them thought.

Both weren’t sure what to do. There was a dark hallway, both of them, and more than enough room for shenanigans.

That didn’t happen, though.

Daichi took the lead to walk back to the living room, with Yui giving him a playful scritch against his back as she passed him and took a spot on the couch. Daichi sat beside her, but left a little bit of room — not so much for Jesus, but just personal space.

Eventually, though, he turned to face Yui, mostly because he could feel her gaze burning a hole in the side of his head. Their eyes met, and he couldn’t keep a smile from forming as he took her in again

“Hey,” he said.

She grinned back.

“Hey.”

There was a small pause, mostly just to acknowledge what had happened that night. They’d gone from teasing to frank honesty to passion and back again. And now, here they were. Same as they always had been. Two people, now very much into each other, hanging out on the couch.

“So, how much teasing do you think I’m going to get tomorrow?” Daichi started.

“I’m not sure, actually,” Yui said with a grin. “If I were Suga I’d probably be focusing on the drunk.”

Daichi laughed.

“Yeah, good point,” he said, staring off into space for a second. “It was weird. Tonight was supposed to be something that took our minds off some stuff, and it did exactly that.”

“What do you mean?” Yui said, subtly shifting a little close the gap between them.

“I… don’t know,” he started. “With the tournament over there’s just a lot of stuff on the horizon I’m not so sure I’m ready for. College. Studying for college. Finding something to do besides volleyball.”

Yui noticed Daichi’s brows furrow a little in frustration. This was new.

“I’m just not sure I’m _ready_ , you know? Things are moving a little fast right now and I’m not sure how well I’m going to be able to deal with it.”

Those nerves evaporated quickly once Yui swung a leg over his lap, moving to straddle him and look him straight in the eyes. She put both of her hands on either shoulder, reassuring him.

“Look. Daichi.”

“I know you. I’ve known you for a long time. And this… these nerves aren’t you, okay?”

She could see him tense up, if only for a second. He needed a second to both process what Yui was saying and to try to keep himself… composed.

“I mean, I know we’re all going to go through crap like this, but you’ve got so many people pulling for you now. You’ve got Suga and Asahi, who aren’t going anywhere, you’ve got your parents and you’ve got… me.”

She realized her brain was catching up to the impulse of what her body had done without it.

“That sounds weird, hearing it like that,” she said, almost apologetically. “I mean, you always _had_ me, but now… it’s different?”

Daichi’s hands found their way to rest on the sides of her hips as he looked up to her, smiling.

“Yeah. But in a better way.”

She smiled down at him, then leaned forward to place a kiss on his forehead.

“Definitely better.”

Daichi couldn’t help but grin at the momentary bit of cockyness.

“You look really good tonight,” he said.

Yui could feel the heat rising in her face. He noticed — even just a little — and decided to push that further.

“You’re going to say you don’t, and you’re going to say all these little things that try to distract from that but… you look really good.”

Yui realized he’d read her quite well, and gave up.

“Thank you,” she said, smiling. “I mean, look at _you_ over here, mister collared shirt! I don’t think I’ve seen you in anything but your uniform and gym clothes in forever.”

“I thought I’d switch it up a bit,” he said. “Special occasion. And maybe… I wanted to impress you a little bit.”

This made Yui light up internally, mostly because she felt satisfied with herself. She took a little bit of pride in knowing that someone wanted to show off for her. I mean, she did the same for him, right?

“You know all the things to make me feel special, Sawamura,” she said, smiling deeply at him.

She leaned forward, gently touching her lips to his, mostly to pay him back for taking the initiative from before. Yui could feel a change in Daichi’s body under her as she did, then deepened the kiss, mostly just to see what she could make him do next.

While Daichi could see the kiss coming, there was a still a bit of mental chaos that kept him from being totally prepared for it. Still, it felt _amazing_ ; Yui’s lips were something he only got to taste for a fleeting second outside, but here it was comforting to know that they didn’t have to rush, hide or dance around it.

She was just there. And she wanted him.

Daichi’s hands gripped Yui’s hips just a bit tighter as he pushed away from his slouch on the couch to straighten up. Yui’s hands let go of his shoulders as she leaned forward, letting her forearms rest on him as they settled in. She couldn’t help but notice how _comfortable_ this felt, despite a whole lot of other feelings flying around. He was nice to press against; solid, sturdy, dependable.

This was all interrupted by Daichi moving one of his hands from her hips to the back of her head, running his fingers through her short hair and eventually settling there. The pace of the kiss increased; Yui could feel Daichi’s challenge as he pushed forward, and decided to meet it with one of her own.

Daichi could feel Yui’s tongue trace against the edge of his lips and he parted them to meet it with his own. From there, most of what they could feel was the desire to explore and a growing warmth of passion. There was no _fear_ here; Daichi had a fleeting realization that all the nerves he’d had about how this night could go and where it would take him after had disappeared.

The kiss eventually broke as both needed a breath.

“Fuck,” Daichi muttered, a small laugh escaping his mouth.

“Hm?” Yui asked, half-fishing, half-smug.

“You’re good at this.”

“Not too shabby yourself.”

Lips met again as Yui’s hands slipped from Daichi’s shoulders, resting on his chest. She’d wanted to feel this for so long; more stability, and more rewards from all those hours in the gym. She wasn’t going to deny it to herself — seeing him shirtless was something she’d wanted very badly. There just hadn’t been the…

“ _Mm!?_ ” Yui squeaked as she felt a hand travel from her back and grab her ass. She parted the kiss, if only to laugh. Daichi’s hand immediately retreated, followed by a string of apologies.

“Sorry! Sorry! I didn’t mean —”

“No no! I was just surprised and…” she said, laughing. “...entertained? Seriously! Here.”

Daichi could only watch as she grabbed the hand by the wrist and moved it back. Yui turned back and could only give him as challenging a look she could muster.

“You have some privileges, I think.”

Something stirred in Daichi at this; he shuddered a little, mostly because seeing Yui take charge turned him on incredibly. Of course, a volleyball player’s ass didn’t hurt, but there were more pressing things at hand. Like getting back to kissing.

Except Yui didn’t go back to his lips. She decided that the neck would be a little more fun.

Yui knew that people liked their necks kissed for a couple reasons — she’d obviously done a lot of thinking on this matter when she found out she liked it herself. This is how she knew that Daichi being able to feel her lips travel from his neck up to just below his ear would only be made _worse_ by the occasional exhale of warm breath.

It was Daichi’s turn to be caught off-guard as he garbled an “oh...kay!” when she started. Immediately after, though, he couldn’t make much out coherently; it was only when he felt Yui’s tongue trace a small line down his neck where she’d just kissed that he let out a long growl that ended more of a _groan_.

Yui liked that. She liked being able to make Daichi do that.

She also felt Daichi’s other hand join the first on her ass, which was now being firmly gripped to keep her in place. Yui felt his thumbs hook into the waistband of her jeans, and even just the small skin-on-skin contact sent shivers through her body. She moved to take Daichi’s earlobe into her mouth, giving it a playful nibble and listening to the reaction.

Daichi struggled, mostly because he wasn’t used to giving up this kind of _power_ to someone on top of him; this wasn’t going to do. When Yui paused (mostly to catch her breath and smile at her handiwork) Daichi moved to reciprocate, planting kisses against her collarbone and leaving small swirls of the tongue after them; Yui’s reaction was exactly what he wanted.

She didn’t consider herself a _loud_ girl by any means, but the noises that escaped Yui’s mouth would have embarrassed her if she didn’t have other pressing matters to attend to. She could feel Daichi’s breath against her skin just as she’d tortured him with seconds before, and wondered if she’d planted the seeds of something to try. She felt one of Daichi’s hands leave her behind while the remaining one gave it a playful squeeze; she felt him graze the opposite side of her face with it, leaving it to brush the occasional finger against her neck.

Yui suddenly became painfully obvious of a few things. She’d realized that her reaction left her hips shifting forward and back in Daichi’s lap, which in turn _may_ have been more than enough stimulus for something to start getting hard. While she’d done her fair share of fantasizing about Shirtless Daichi, she was a bit more ashamed that there’d been some drifts to other, more explicit thoughts.

There was only so many blanks she could fill in with guesses; she wanted to find out and feel for herself. This rocking and grinding became all the more pronounced, and Daichi took it as a sign that he shouldn’t be trying to hide himself. Their lips met again, more aggressive this time, as his hands found their way back to her hips, and hers to the buttons on his shirt.

There were fumbles in the dark — who has the dexterity in the moment, anyway? — but eventually the shirt was tossed to the side. Yui took a second to slow the moment down; she knew Suga was liable to walk in soon, but she didn’t want to deny herself this.

Her hands travelled under the shirt Daichi wore as a second layer, feeling the taut muscles that came with years of sprints, stretches and dives. She could feel him shudder; she liked the noises he made when he did. Their lips parted.

“Should we..?” Daichi asked, almost too nervous to suggest something specific.

At that moment, Yui’s ears perked up. Footsteps — wait, more like stomps? — through the snow. A voice carried with authority as the door unhitched and opened, verrrrry slowwwly.

“HELLO, IT IS I, SUGARAWARA, ENTERING THE ASAHI HOUSE. I HOPE EVERYONE IS DECENT IN HERE.”

Panic. Frenzy. Yui dove off of Daichi’s lap and tried to compose herself. While she didn’t have anything particularly dishevelled, Suga would notice the tousled hair.

“Oh shit, your shirt,” she whispered, tossing it back over to Daichi who hastily buttoned it up.

Suga was being generous; while he was happy for his friend, he wasn’t above a little bit of embarrassment. However, just in case, he wasn’t exactly in the mood to see naked bodies when he didn’t have to — also, he didn’t want to be stuck cleaning anything up that wasn’t party-related afterward.

Turning the corner into the living room, all he could see were the pair decent, sitting separately on different couches. Rigid. Almost _too_ still.

“I’m almost disappointed,” he said, tossing off his winter coat. Daichi and Yui exchanged nervous glances, with the latter’s eyes widening. When Suga had his back turned she frantically waved to get Daichi’s attention, then pointed to her own neck. There were marks — not hickeys, mind you, but whatever makeup she was using on her lips — from where she had left a trail. Daichi scrubbed furiously and counted his blessings that that side was facing away from their new guest.

Looking back over for approval, he was met with a thankful sigh from Yui, and a subtle thumbs up.

Then a smile. He liked that smile.

Cleanup of the Karasuno Volleyball Team year-end party was not a terrible problem, mostly because that party didn’t get out of hand. A couple garbage bags later, there were enough empties to get rid of quietly, and no major spills, stains, or anything broken. It was a miracle, by all standards, but they were willing to take that.

There was still one thing to take care of, though.

Yui wasn’t really sure how to broach the topic, but decided to be a little direct in lieu of anything fancy.

“Wanna walk home?”

Daichi looked at her, over to the back of Suga’s head, then back to her. While it would’ve been nice to wake up on the couch and go get breakfast with the guys, there was something a bit more pressing here.

“ _Sorry, Suga_ ,” he thought.

“Sure.”

After negotiating an appropriate payment for Sugawara having to deal with the resulting Hungover Ace in the morning, both Yui and Daichi found themselves walking towards both their houses. Knowing each other since middle school, they actually lived kind of close; enough so that Daichi could drop her off on the way.

As their feet crunched through the snow beneath them, Daichi couldn’t help but take a deep breath and look off into the night, similarly to how he had when they had been standing outside the house just hours ago.

“This feels… familiar,” he said, breaking the silence. Yui looked at him quizzically, then understood what he meant.

“Yeah. We’ve made this walk together a bunch before.”

“But I guess this is different,” he said. “In a good way.”

“Yeah,” she said, looking over at him with a grin.

More crunches followed as they got closer to the end of a short journey that both weren’t certain they wanted to end quite yet.

“So. Back there...” Daichi started.

“Hm?”

“Back on the couch. You said that I ‘had you.’”

Yui felt her face heat up a little bit. Was it too much? Something too strong? Did she make a fool out of herself?

“What about it?”

Daichi smiled, taking another deep breath.

“Thanks. I think I needed to hear that,” he said. “I think a lot of what happened this year felt like I had so much support, and after the tournament was done, it kind of felt I was losing a lot of that. I felt like I had to suddenly deal with everything myself, and I’m not sure I’m ready to handle that.

“But then… there’s you,” he continued, stopping on the sidewalk. She stopped in turn, facing him.

“Tonight was… _amazing_?” he said, adding emphasis. “I was really nervous about talking to you, and… things kind of worked out.”

She gave a small laugh.

“Yeah. I think it did.”

As they started walking again, Yui eventually summoned up the courage to reach over and grab Daichi’s hand. She was happy he didn’t jerk it away, even out of reflex; he felt comfortable and kind. It wasn’t particularly cold out, but he couldn’t help but feel the need to keep her warm as best he could. She could feel his thumb stroking a bare patch of her hand; she liked the contact.

Eventually, and sadly for Yui, they eventually made it to her house’s front door. Turning around, she looked up at Daichi and enjoyed a couple seconds of just smiling warmly.

“So, do you want to… grab food sometime?” she offered.

Daichi smiled back.

“Yeah, I think that’d be nice. I’m… kind of happy this isn’t going to be a one time thing.”

Yui leaned forward to peck Daichi on the lips, but then was halfway through the door before she turned to add something.

“We’ve got some unfinished business from the couch, Sawamura. You better believe we’re not done,” she said, enjoying the reaction of Daichi’s jaw dropping. “Good night, Daichi.”

The door closed. Daichi was frustrated, but not in a bad way. After a couple steps away from the Yui household, he took out his phone.

“ **_SD_ ** _: Mean._ ”

**Author's Note:**

> Shoutouts to whitemiists for being the captain of the DaiYui ship; his/her fics really inspired me to write this one because I think the coupling is adorable, and I've come to enjoy Yui having a kind of agency/initiative on her own. I believe ships where the dude gets to make all the moves is pretty boring, mostly because girls who have a grasp on their own sexuality and what they want from it are awesome! 
> 
> This ship doesn't get enough love despite being pretty near to canon, but I think that might just be the nature of the Haikyuu!! fandom enjoying their AUs and slash pairings. To each their own, but I like these lovable dorks and them wanting to bone each other (with love, of course). Might write a part deux that gets a little smuttier.


End file.
